Thursday, January 10, 2013

Kudos to the N.C. Board of Elections, Gov. Pat McCrory and House Speaker Thom Tillis.

The Board of Elections has determined that there are some 613,000 registered voters who do not have photo IDs issued by the Division of Motor Vehicles (which issues both driver's licenses and other photo IDs). That's almost one in 10 of North Carolina's registered voters.

These are the people whose constitutional rights could be infringed by a strict photo voter ID law. Faced with this data, Gov. McCrory and Speaker Tillis, both Republicans, said Wednesday that they could support a voter ID law that permits other kinds of ID, without a photo. That paves the way for a reasonable compromise on this controversial issue.

Republicans passed a photo voter ID bill last year, but didn't have the votes to override a veto from then-Gov. Bev Perdue. They plan to make voter ID one of their earliest priorities when they reconvene Jan. 30, and McCrory said on the campaign trail that he would sign such a bill.

The Board of Elections' analysis puts some specifics on an argument that we and others opposed to a strict photo ID bill have made many times: Unlike driving or boarding a plane, voting is a fundamental right guaranteed by our Founders in the Constitution. The government overreach of taking away that right from people who do not have a photo ID (now pegged at more than 613,000 in North Carolina) far outweighs any benefit from using it to try to counter phantom voter fraud.

Virtually no one favors voter fraud, but it's almost nonexistent, and potential fraud is more likely to involve absentee ballots or registration hijinks than massive numbers of people showing up at the polls claiming they are someone they're not. The photo voter ID law does nothing to address that.

We think the whole voter ID push is more about keeping Democratic voters away from the polls than about rooting out real fraud. But we could live with a law that allows for other kinds of ID without a photo, such as a voter registration card or utility bill. That would block the kind of activity Republicans say concerns them without stripping 613,000 voters of their basic rights.

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comments:

Where is your PROOF that voter fraud is "practically non-existent"? Simply put, it is a well accepted fundamental fact of logic that you cannot prove a negative hypothesis. In other words, you cannot prove that something does NOT exist, only that you have not yet observed it and that is a key difference!

We simply don't know how much voter fraud is out there because we have no way to identify it. Voter ID laws would assist in doing that. When they announced 613,000 registered voters have no photo ID, then your first question should've been: "Why not?" and your second question should've been: "Then how do we know their registration is legitimate?"

You ask neither question... proving once again, that you simply don't want to no if a problem really exists or not!

Voter fraud? You want a simple example of the left and voter fraud? Look no further than the vote in open floor at the Dem convention here last year to reintroduce GOD into part of the platform. It was SOUNDLY voted down three times and yet the idiot with the gavel passed it. If the leaders defy the wishes of their base, just what do you think the base is doing? Get real Taylor.

Sorry Taylor, there is no Constitutional right to vote without a picture ID. The US Supreme Court ruled on this issue some years ago. In Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, 553 U.S. 181 (2008)the court held that requiring an ID to vote did NOT violate anyone's Constitutional rights.

It is a lie that there is not widespread voter fraud in NC. Remember Pete Kaliner from WBT? He reports that hundreds of registered voters in Wake County claimed they were not US citizens in order to avoid jury duty. If they're not US citizens then they can't vote. But the Democrat-controlled NC Board of Elections claims they are citizens... because they have drivers licenses (which you can get without being a citizen).

Do any of the 613,000 drive, do any of them have a social security number? Then they can get a photo id, I got mine at the court house. If they can get to the polling place, they can get an id, give them a free one. Solved. You are promoting voter fraud and that is plain. It's not 'non-existent' it was every where in every state in the Presidential election. What you are really doing is robbing the voters of their election by promoting voter fraud. It's not a hardship to get a photo id. If ppl can get down to the food stamp office, the bank, the grocery store, then they can get an id. This idea that it's a hardship is so silly, beyond silly really.

About this blog

The Observer's editorial board cares deeply about Charlotte and the Carolinas, and has a problem with public officials who have forgotten that they report to citizens. Editorial page editor Taylor Batten and associate editors Peter St. Onge and Eric Frazier tackle politics and public policy issues locally, across the state and nation. Kevin Siers tackles those issues too in cartoons. Read their columns and biographical information on the CharlotteObserver.com Opinion page.